Shillong, Sept 22: Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj, Kapil Moheshwar Patil on Wednesday visited Shillong and reviewed the schemes and programmes of his ministry being implemented by the Government of Meghalaya.
The Minister reviewed MGNREGA, PMAY-G, NRLM, RGSA and other flagship programmes of the Government.
The Union Minister expressed his satisfaction over the proper implementation of schemes even without the presence of formal Gram Panchayats.
The minister exclaimed, “I was very excited to learn how without the presence of formal Gram Panchayats and through traditional village institutions every member of a household in a village in Meghalaya are contributing in implementing central and state government schemes.”
Speaking about the effective management of the institutions, the Minister said, “In Meghalaya, community ownership is evident in the implementation of government schemes and this is the reason why a record amount of Rs 1500 crore have been utilised under MGNREGA in a small state like Meghalaya.”
Average farmer household earns over Rs 29,000 monthly: Report
Principal Secretary to Government of Meghalaya, Sampath Kumar in the meeting mentioned the government of India’s recently released survey report titled ‘Situation Assessment of Agricultural Households and Land and Holdings of Households in Rural India, 2019’.
As per this report, in 2018-19, an average farmer household in Meghalaya earned about Rs 29,348 per month whereas a Punjab farmer’s household earned about Rs 26,701.
The minister expressed his satisfaction over this achievement and said that the people of Meghalaya have utilised the schemes of the government very effectively and have clubbed benefit of the schemes like MGNREGA and NRLM to reap the maximum benefit.
Swamitva Yojana to create record of land ownership in rural areas
Patil also spoke about Swamitva Yojana, which aims to create a record of land ownership in rural areas using modern technology. He said that property card for every property in the village will be prepared by states using accurate measurements delivered by drone-mapping. These cards will be given to property owners and will be recognised by the land revenue records department.
Referring to Meghalaya, where the lands are generally scattered, the Union Minister appealed to the state government to devise a policy to provide property cards to villagers. The delivery of property rights through an official document will enable villagers to access bank finance using their property as collateral, he added.
